Where do you think your job will be? On manhattan or off? Lower manhattan is really expensive, but upper manhattan is actually remarkably affordable (for NYC).

Where do you think your job will be? On manhattan or off? Lower manhattan is really expensive, but upper manhattan is actually remarkably affordable (for NYC). You can actually find prices comparable to brooklyn or queens if you go up far enough. I'd look for something in washington heights or harlem if you have work on manhattan somewhere. Staten Island is a dump and so is Jersey. I've had friends try to live in Jersey City and etc before and while it is a bit cheaper, you lose all of that money when you factor in the extra transport costs of having to buy transit in two states from two different systems. It's also a huge pain to get to manhattan from there and you'll lose a lot of time in transit. The main thing is to get an apartment near a subway stop if at all possible. It will make your life SO much easier. I might actually be moving to NYC next year to finish my degree, so hopefully if there is a hacker scene there, I'll be able to find it and integrate smoothly. The midwest really sucks for this sort of thing, and with a city the size of NYC, there's got to be at least SOME cool tech inclined people. Just a matter of finding them, I'm sure.